Since Williams was only two years removed from high school (players are only permitted to declare for the draft after their junior season), his entry to the draft was contingent on a legal challenge to the NFL’s draft policy.

After a federal judge’s ruling initially cleared the way for Clarett and Williams to enter the 2004 draft, the U.S. Court of Appeals (Second Circuit) proceeded to overturn the ruling. By then, Williams had already hired an agent and as a result, he was ineligible to return to USC for his junior season.

Had Williams been an ’04 draft pick, he would have been a sure-fire first round pick.

Instead, Williams worked out on his own during the 2004 season and entered the draft for 2005.

Williams lasted just two disastrous seasons in Detroit, catching a mere 37 passes for 449 yards and 2 touchdowns. After brief stints with Oakland and Tennessee, Williams is currently out of the NFL.

Dooming Mike Williams during his time in Detroit were, among other things, a lack of speed, a questionable work ethic, and an entire year off from football in what should have been the prime of his collegiate career.

To make matters worse (check that, infinitely worse), the next 3 picks of the ’05 draft were as follows:

At the time of the ’05 draft, the Lions were in desperate need of help on both the offensive line and EVERYWHERE on the defense. Drafting a third wideout in three seasons was a decision with negative implications that last even to this day.

Swap a defensive game-changer like Ware or Merriman for that fateful pick four years ago and the Lions would instantly have a defensive centerpiece to lean on. Add in a lineman like Brown and the woeful O-Line would have a successful mainstay.

Sometimes it seems hard to fathom that the Lions could sustain such a lack of success on the gridiron for such an extended period of time. However, when you examine the Lions’ draft tendencies of the past decade, it’s rather easy to see why the team has become the laughingstock of the league.

You can only hope that Marty Mayhew/Tom Lewand and co. can learn from the mistakes of the past and finally bring the Lions back to, well, respectability.

Rogers grew up in Saginaw, a mere 2ish hours from Detroit. He then headed to East Lansing to don the green and white of the home-state MSU Spartans when it came time to elevate his game to the collegiate level.

Bobby Williams, the Spartans’ head coach from 2000-2002, was integral in the recruitment of Rogers to MSU. He then shifted to Detroit as the Lions’ wide receivers coach for the 2003 season, not coincidentally, the season the Lions grabbed Rogers with the 2nd overall pick.

Former MSU head coach, Bobby Williams, was likely a key figure in the Lions' drafting of local standout, Charles Rogers

After a monster career at State, including receiving the 2002 Biletnikoff Award as the nation’s top wide receiver, Rogers seemed like a perfect fit for the Lions. Hometown kid makes good with the big club. It’s the oldest story in the book.

Sadly, Rogers quickly became a victim of both uncontrollable circumstances and his own powerful personal demons.

After his rookie season, Rogers caught just 14 passes and 1 touchdown before getting the ax from the Lions.

Had Charles Rogers loved football as much as weed, he would've had a chance to become of the league's bright young stars. Instead, he's out of football.

What seemed on the surface to be a match made in heaven, was clearly a disaster waiting to happen.

Had the Lions done their proper due diligence, perhaps they would have learned about Rogers’ rampant drug use in college. The collarbone injuries are by no means his fault, but spotting a guy who parties too hard and gets by too much on natural talent and not enough on good old fashioned hard work shouldn’t be particularly difficult.

The red flags were there. The Lions’ brass simply failed to see them waving in the breeze.

Sure, the pressure heaped upon him must’ve been awfully tough to bear, but the Lions drafted Joey with the intent of making him the team’s franchise QB.

A big chunk of change, high expectations, and a restless fanbase are all things that Harrington should’ve known he’d have to endure when he took the seemingly unenviable position as quarterback of the Lions.

Maybe, at one time, Joey could’ve flourished. Maybe Detroit was just the wrong place for him.

However, at the end of the day, the drafting of Joey Harrington was a dark cloud that hung over the Lions until the day Detroit used another top 3 pick to make another attempt at landing a franchise QB (see: Stafford).

Few things have been as constant for the Detroit Lions in the 2000’s as totally inept drafting.

From 2002-2006, just one Lion draft pick, linebacker Ernie Sims, is still with the team. Quite honestly, that has to be one of the most mind boggling statistics in the history of mind boggling statistics.

Over the course of the next week, I will explore the 5 worst selections of the GM-who-shall-not-be-named era (2000-2008) and some of their most well-known follies. I’ll limit myself to the first two rounds of each draft, since, for all intents and purposes, the later rounds were just a chance to draft and cut CFL-level talent.

Heaving darts at a dart board is the best substitute for actual player analysis!

Dizon doesn’t necessarily jump off the page as one of the most prominent missteps by Lions’ brass, but this guy is a perfect example of the “what in the world were you thinking?” draft strategy.

In an attempt to draft a linebacker that would fit since-departed coach Rod Marinelli’s cover-two scheme (or cover-no one, take your pick), the Lions used their second round pick on an undersized (6’0, 230 lbs.) player with questionable talent. Perhaps the Lions were lured by Dizon’s collegiate accolades, but few if any other NFL teams had projected Dizon as a second round-level talent.